We spent a lovely afternoon with Sirius Dog Sanctuary at Fico Café Resto. The workshop was an eye-opening experience for many and we managed to answer quite a few common questions about certain dog behaviors and the biggest mistakes people do when handling their dogs.
To us, it’s important that we are all aware of how canines think and how we best can get a behavior change in our dogs.

Together, we raised over 200€ to the dogs in need at the shelter!
Thank you all for coming, and a big shout out to Fico, the sweets were amazing! We look forward seeing you all again.

This weekend we participated in Sirius Dog Sanctuary public dog walk event. It was a lovely day in the green fields surrounding Sirius facilities and down by the ocean. We got to meet great people and dogs… We even manage to squeeze in some dog training for some very special dogs that are up for adoption.

Nuisance barking can be quite a problem and we are often asked what to do about it.
Barking is perfectly natural for dogs, be it for warning, protection or expressing excitement it is still one of their most important forms of communication. Usually it is not very long lasting and is hardly a problem for most dog owners, they are after all just talking to you, just letting you know what’s on their mind.
But excessive barking on the other hand could be an inconvenience and is mostly caused by plain boredom or lack of stimulation.

Undoubtedly, this is a strong indication that there is a problem that needs to be dealt with. Our initial reaction is to ask ourselves what problems the dog has but what we really need to focus on is us, the humans! Ask yourself these questions: Do you give your dog enough stimulation and exercise? Could you unintentionally be encouraging the barking? Or could the problem simply be that your dog suffers from anxiety?

It mostly comes down to how you treat your dog when they are excited. How many of you pat your dog when they bark, telling them “there, there, it’s ok…” or if the dog is smaller, pick them up when they get excited over something.
Think about that for a second.
You are actually rewarding a behavior that your are trying to get rid of. This is called unintended positive reinforcement and it can do more harm than good.
Touching and patting your dog is rewarding for them, if you give them that reward when they are displaying a behavior we do not want to encourage you are in fact doing the opposite of what you want to achieve.

When clients ask us this question, the first thing that comes to our mind is to teach the dog how to bark. This might seem a bit confusing, but let us break it down for you.
If your dog learns what barking is and knows how to bark on cue, they will also learn what not-barking (i.e being quiet) is and you can just as easily have a command for that too.

Secondly, we want to point out the importance of exercise and stimulation. A dog that gets to have an outlet for all that energy is often a dog that dosen’t feel the need to bark excessively.
Contact our trainer if you want to know more about how to deal with this.

There can be many reasons your dog bites or keeps mouthing the leash, for example they can be bored, overexcited, frustrated or just like having something in their mouth. You can prevent this by letting your dog have a stick or a toy to carry on the walk. You can also teach your dog the “out” command to let things go.
Some dogs might think the leash is a toy, therefore it might be useful to take away the “charm” of it. By putting the leash in front of your dog, wait until they switch focus onto something else (preferably you) and reward immediately for not being interested.

Pulling can become a big problem if not dealt with in time. If you are experiencing difficulty controlling your dog on walks it’s best to book a training session with us. But here are a few quick tips:

*Keep your dog on a short leash. Don’t worry, they will still get the exercise they need.

*Use small subtile corrections often rather than hard “pops” of tugs on the leash a few times. Sometimes you might need to give a less subtle tug initially to let your dog know that you only accept a certain distance from you.

*When they start pulling change direction. This will throw them off balance a bit and forget what they were pulling towards. Walk a few steps in the other direction and turn around again and continue your walk.

There is this ongoing battle between raw feeders and kibble feeders. Ask 10 vets and you’ll get 10 different opinions, but one thing we can all agree on is NEVER TO GIVE A DOG COOKED MEAT & BONES!

We would like to share our opinion in the matter of “raw feeding or kibble feeding” and provide you with some facts from studies to make it easier for you to form your own opinion.

First, let’s talk about the canine background.
Dogs have been around for millions of years. Research and studies show that the ancestors of coyotes, wolves and the domestic dog, the Canidae from 34 million years ago evolved to the first of the Canis genus around 6 million years ago. The domestication of dogs didn’t start until only about 15,000 years ago. We started to breed them to fit into our own needs and before we knew it we had developed around 340 different breeds. Their genotype remains essentially the same with should tell us something about the foods they should eat. Dogs have been eating raw meat and bones their entire history until about 100 years ago when commercial pet food companies gave us a much more convenient alternative… the dry food! Kibble and canned foods were a success and we have since then bought the idea that this food is somehow better and safer than raw food.

People often make the mistake of comparing dogs with wolves, it’s not totally wrong but it is like comparing humans to apes, we have the same ancestors but have evolved differently. Dogs and modern wolves are not lineal ancestors but they still belong to the Canis genus and their genetic makeup is still just as relevant today.

Dogs have jaws that move up and down, unlike our own that also move sideways, and sharp interlocking teeth designed to rip flesh apart. They are gulpers, not chewers and their intestines are shorter to process the food and get it out quickly.

We want to give them species-appropriate foods, remember that dogs evolved while consuming fresh and whole animals, they didn’t evolve to digest clean, sterile food. They have natural digestive tracks that are designed to deal with naturally occurring bacteria.

So what should we feed our dogs?
We feed our own dogs raw food combined with commercial foods.
A balanced diet of meat and organs is important. Hearts, liver, kidneys and other parts are just as important as the meat itself. Think of it this way, if a dog in the wild catches a bunny, they eat everything there is, including the fur, claws bones, intestines, everything! The bunny itself has probably been eating some grass and vegetables and still has that in its stomach. A carnivorous animal like the dog can not process that kind of food raw in the same way on its own but since the bunny’s stomach has that capability and it’s already been fermented the dog is able to draw more of those nutrients out of the food too.
This means that throwing your dog a chicken drumstick every day is not enough.

As much as we try to get the ingredients to a balanced diet it’s a lot of work and that’s why we combine it with kibble. Always do your research regarding which brands have the most natural ingredients and choose accordingly. Remember that there are many brands out there that charge for the brand itself not the quality of the food, so just because it’s expensive it doesn’t always mean that it’s in any way better.

We do freeze the raw food for at least 3 weeks before we feed it to make sure the non-natural bacteria and worms are dead.

You will notice that your dog looks better, has less stinky poop, cleaner teeth, better breath, shinier coat, develops a better physique and much more once you start feeding them raw food.

We hosted our second dog walk last weekend together with Stray Haven! It was a warm and beautiful midday. We feel so happy that so many came. Money was raised to support Stray Haven and we all had a great time. Thank you everyone that joined and stayed for the picnic and snacks. And we hope that the demonstration of pulling the leash while walking has come to use during your dog walks at home.

We had an amazing dog walk this weekend! It was a beautiful and sunny afternoon and we couldn’t be more happy about it. Money was raised to support Stray Haven and we all had a great time. Thank you everyone that joined and stayed for hot dogs and snacks. It was a bit muddy but we all had fun and enjoyed watching our dogs get all dirty! Mark your calendars for our next dog walk on the 26th of February.

Today we spent a few hours at Sirius Dog Sanctuary and helped out with a couple of troubled dog. There are many dogs there, so we focused on teaching our methods to the staff and volunteers and worked with the dogs that needed us most.

Helping and training a fearful, shy, scared and nervous dog can take time and it is nothing you do in just a few hours. It’s important to take your time and stay patient while you are gaining more trust and connecting with the dog. A dog can smell and sense your emotional state so the key to training a nervous dog is to stay relaxed, patient, happy and encouraging.

We spent some time with each dog bonding and getting to know them in a quiet room and eventually managed to take these dogs out for a walk individually without and major issues. A little pulling and a little protesting, but over all we believe we had some breakthroughs with them. Our main focus was having them follow our lead. Repeating a simple short walk back and forth again and again they slowly realized that there’s nothing wrong with walking outdoors.